UH-OH

07.09.14

ISIS Seizes Chemical Weapons Plant

Stringer / Reuters

Islamic militants from ISIS have taken control of a former chemical-weapons facility north of Baghdad, according to a letter sent to the UN on Tuesday, raising the terrifying prospect of terrorists armed with weapons of mass destruction. Last month, the U.S. State Department downplayed concerns about ISIS gaining control of the facility, which has remnants of 2,500 degraded chemical rockets filled with sarin and other chemicals. Spokeswoman Jen Psaki declared the remnants “don’t include intact chemical weapons... and would be very difficult, if not impossible, to safely use this for military purposes or, frankly, to move it.” The site in Muthanna was the primary chemical-weapons facility under Saddam Hussein.